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Benzene is a widely used chemical and common environmental contaminant. It is carcinogenic in man and animals and is genotoxic in mice, rats, and occupationally exposed humans at doses above one part per million. In order to evaluate the genotoxic effects of prolonged exposures to very low concentrations of benzene, we exposed CD-1 mice to benzene by inhalation for 22 h per day, seven days per week for six weeks at 40, 100 and 1000 parts per billion (ppb). Additional groups were exposed to purified air or were housed in standard plastic cages. The effects of in vivo exposure to benzene were evaluated by using an autoradiographic assay to determine the frequency of mutants which represent mutations at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (hprt) locus in spleen lymphocytes. At the end of the six weeks exposure period lymphocytes were recovered from the spleens of the mice and cryopreserved prior to assay. Mutant cells were selected on the basis of their ability to incorporate tritiated thymidine in the presence of 6-thioguanine. The weighted mean variant (mutant) frequencies (Vf) of female mice (three per group) were 7.2 x 10(-6) at 0 ppb; 29.2 x 10(-6) at 40 ppb; 62.5 x 10(-6) at 100 ppb and 25.0 x 10(-6) at 1000 ppb. The Vf of unexposed mice housed in standard cages was 13.2 x 10(-6). In male mice the same pattern of response was observed, but the increases in Vf in response to benzene were not as great. In both sexes of mice, the increases at 40 and 100 ppb were significantly greater than at 0 ppb (P less than 0.05). The increase in Vf with exposure to 100 ppb and the decline at 1000 ppb parallel the results observed for chromosome damage in spleen lymphocytes from the same animals (Au et al., Mutation Res., 260 (1991) 219-224). These results indicate that sub-chronic exposure to benzene at levels below the current Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permitted Exposure Limit may induce gene mutations in lymphocytes in mice.

19 aromatic amines were assayed for mutagenicity using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 with and without the addition of S9 from Aroclor-1254-induced rat liver. These included: naphthalenes (1-amino-, 1-acetamido-, 2-amino-, 2-acetamido-, 1-amino-4-nitro- and 2-amino-1-nitro-), biphenyls (2-amino-, 2-acetamido-, 4-amino- and 4-acetamido-), fluorenes (2-amino- and 2-acetamido-), anthracenes (1-amino-, 1-acetamido-, 2-amino- and 2-acetamido-), 3-aminofluoranthene, 1-aminopyrene and 6-aminochrysene. None of the compounds were mutagenic when tested without S9. With S9, 15 of 19 were mutagenic for TA98 and 16 of the 19 were mutagenic for TA100. Overall, 2-aminoanthracene was the most potent mutagen. When compared to the parent amines, the respective acetamido derivatives were consistently less mutagenic.

A multiple end-point approach to assessing genetic toxicity (the combined testing protocol, CTP) was evaluated in male and female CD-1 mice exposed subacutely (3 and 6 weeks) to low levels of a custom-blended gas mixture (epichlorohydrin, benzene, chloroprene and xylene, at 50, 100, 100, and 100 ppb, respectively, as the low dose, with concentration levels 10-fold and 100-fold higher as the intermediate and high doses, or 0.1, 1 and 10 ppm of benzene). Urine mutagenicity was tested in the Salmonella/microsome assay, chromosome aberrations were examined in bone marrow and spleen lymphocytes, micronuclei were measured in bone marrow and peripheral erythrocytes, and cytochrome P450 and glutathione S-transferases were measured in the liver. Structural aberrations in alveolar macrophages and spermatocytes, and thioguanine resistance in spleen lymphocytes were examined for their suitability for incorporation into the overall protocol. Spleen lymphocytes were the most sensitive indicator cells, and showed a dose-related increase (P less than 0.01) in structural chromosome aberrations and in cytotoxicity after 6 weeks of exposure. Analysis of micronucleus formation and metaphase aberrations in the bone marrow, and micronuclei in peripheral erythrocytes showed an overall statistically non-significant but positive trend at the high dose. No mutagenicity was detected in pooled urine samples. Liver microsomal cytochrome P450 was not increased, but cytosolic glutathione S-transferases were significantly increased in a dose-related manner. Since the probability of detecting a genotoxic effect increases with the number of endpoints and tissues examined, this approach should be applicable to many situations without having to perform separate experiments for each tissue examined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The micronucleus test was performed in male ICR Swiss mice following modification of benzene metabolism by co-administration of aniline, pyridine or naphthalene, or by prior injection of alpha-naphthoflavone. HPLC profiles of urinary metabolites were compared to the effects of these compounds on clastogenicity. Pyridine inhibited both benzene clastogenicity and its metabolism. Aniline and naphthalene increased the clastogenicity and slightly altered the metabolism of benzene. alpha-Naphthoflavone inhibited benzene clastogenicity and metabolism only at high doses. Since 3-methylcholanthrene and phenobarbital both increase the metabolism of benzene but only 3-methylcholanthrene increases benzene clastogenicity, specific P450 isozymes may be responsible for different biological effects of benzene, and alterations in these effects might be caused by a shift from one isozyme to another.

The mutagenicity of a series of 19 aromatic amines had been previously measured in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 (frame-shift) and TA100 (base-pair) with the addition of S9 from Aroclor 1254-induced rat liver. A quantitative structure-activity relation (QSAR) study using multiple regression analysis points out the influence of three factors on mutagenicity: lipophilic character, position of the amine group, and whether it is free or acetylated, as expressed by log P and two indicator variables I1 and I2, respectively. The multiple regression equations explain 78 and 88% of the variance in log mutagenicity in TA98 and TA100, respectively. First of all, mutagenicity was shown to increase with lipophilicity. On the other hand, mutagenicity is reduced when the amine or acetamido position is ortho to the juncture because of steric hindrance in its biotransformation compared with a non-ortho isomer. It is decreased also by the acetylation of the amine group, probably because the acetyl group needs to be first split off prior to oxidation of the amine group to -NHOH.

The mechanism of the genotoxicity and metabolism of benzene (BZ) was investigated by using a free-radical scavenger, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), to investigate the free radical mechanism in BZ metabolism. The presence of chromosomal breakage expressed as micronuclei (MN) in bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) and the presence of several BZ metabolites in the urine were monitored. Adult male ICR mice were exposed orally to DMSO after oral exposure to BZ (440 mg/kg b.w.). DMSO was administered either in different concentrations (1.25, 3.75 or 12.5% given at a volume of 0.01 ml/gm b.w.) or at different intervals after BZ exposure (1, 3 or 5 h). Each group consisted of five mice. It was found that the BZ-induced MN frequency was reduced by DMSO from 48.8 +/- 5.6 (SEM) to 2.6 +/- 0.7 per 1000 PCE when DMSO (12.5%) was administered at 1 h after BZ exposure (P less than 0.01), to 3.4 +/- 0.8 at 3 h (P less than 0.01) and to 36.2 +/- 12.1 at 5 h (P less than 0.01). The reduction of the clastogenic effect of BZ by DMSO was also dependent upon the DMSO doses. The MN frequency was significantly reduced from 48.8 +/- 5.6 to 29.4 +/- 10.9 with 1.25% DMSO (P less than 0.01) to 20 +/- 7.6 with 3.75% (P less than 0.01) and to 2.6 +/- 0.7 with 12.5% DMSO (P less than 0.01). The presence of different metabolites of BZ such as hydroquinone, catechol, trans-trans muconic acid (MA, the oxidized form of trans-trans muconaldehyde, ttM), and total and conjugated phenol was evaluated in the urine of the exposed mice using HPLC. Among these metabolites, the quantity of MA was found to have the closest positive correlation with the MN frequency (P less than 0.007). Phenol but not the other monitored metabolites was also positively correlated with MN frequency (P less than 0.03). Thus, our data show that the formation of genotoxic metabolites from BZ probably involves hydroxyl radicals and ttM as well as phenol are likely to be responsible for the clastogenic effect of benzene in vivo.

The urine of a cigarette smoker who excretes exceptionally mutagenic urine was analyzed for several factors affecting mutagenicity. S. typhimurium strain TA98 was always more sensitive to XAD-2 urine concentrates than TA100. With TA98, as high as 85 revertants per ml of urine were produced. It was observed that incubation with beta-glucuronidase was not required for expression of mutagenicity but that a complete S9 mix was needed to convert the material in the concentrate to the ultimate mutagenic species. TLC and HPLC separation of the XAD-2 urine concentrate resulted in the identification of trace amounts of the bladder carcinogen, 2-aminonaphthalene (beta-naphthylamine) and a considerable amount of a possible metabolite of 2-aminonaphthalene, 2-amino-7-naphthol. The identity of the compounds was confirmed by mass spectral analysis, and 2-amino-7-naphthol was shown to be a mutagen for TA100 and TA98 when activated by rat-liver S9.